Content deleted Content added
m Duplicate word removed |
m v2.05 - Fix errors for CW project (Unbalanced quotes in ref name or illegal character or empty name.) |
||
| (14 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
Line 317:
===Growth===
From September 1986,<ref name=TelematicsTransition>
{{
cite book
|title=Telematics in Transition: The Development of New Interactive Services in the United Kingdom
|first1=Graham
|last1=Thomas
|first2=Ian
|last2=Miles
|date=1989
|publisher=[[Longman]]
|location=[[Harlow]]
|isbn=978-0-5820-5595-7
|oclc=22706270
}}</ref>{{rp|27}} under page *656#, Prestel's publicity department published a "Factframe" showing, at the end of each month, the average number of terminals attached and the respective percentages in businesses and in homes; the number of frames available and the number of frame accesses per week; and the number of messages sent per week.<ref name=Factframe>An example from 1987:
{{
cite document
Line 335 ⟶ 348:
|first3=Volker
|last3=Schneider
|author-link3=:de:
|date=1992
|editor-first1=Harry
Line 386 ⟶ 399:
|title=Viewdata in Retail and Distribution
|author=Department of Trade & Industry
|author-link=Department of Trade and Industry (
|date=1984
|page=8
Line 445 ⟶ 458:
|id={{ProQuest|186886612}}
}}</ref> In January 1989, drawing on what turned out to be the final Factframe, published at the end of 1988, Schofield wrote that "After ten years, [Prestel] has yet to achieve the number of users it expected to get in its first year", quoting a figure of 95,460 terminals attached.<ref name=SchofieldJan89 /> This was the highest figure claimed during the lifetime of Prestel.<ref name=SettingStage />{{rp|18}}
===Decline===
In October 1991, British Telecom closed [[Micronet 800]], stating, in a letter to customers, that "With over 10,000 members, Micronet is easily the largest online service in the UK specialising in microcomputing. However, it is still not large enough to enable us to maintain a cost-effective service and provide the extra facilities requested by our customers."<ref name=MicronetClosure1991>
{{
cite web
|url=https://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=micronetrip.pdf
|title=Micronet to close from 31st October 1991
|date=27 September 1991
|first1=Sue
|last1=Gilbody
|type=letter
|publisher=[[Tymnet#BT Tymnet, BT_North America, BTNA|BT Tymnet]]
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506132636/http://www.viewdata.org.uk/download.php?cat=15_Prestel&file=micronetrip.pdf
|archive-date=6 May 2012
}}</ref> Membership had decreased from a peak of around 20,000.<ref name=Rutter />{{rp|145}} ''[[The Guardian]]'' attributed this to the introduction by British Telecom of an off-peak Prestel time-charge in mid-1988, discouraging the use of Micronet's popular "[[Micronet 800#Services provided|Chatline]]" service.<ref name=BrownMicronet1991>
{{
cite news
|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]
|date=31 October 1991
|title=Reaching the end of the line
|first=Mike
|last=Brown
|at=p. 33, col 8
|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/187285975
|id={{ProQuest|187285975}}
}}</ref> ''[[The Times]]'' agreed, and also pointed to a steep rise in subscription charges, opining that "BT's failure to provide even this committed group with an economic ... service means that Prestel is destined ... for businesses."<ref name=MayMicronet1991>
{{
cite newspaper The Times
|title=Hey Prestel! A disappearing act
|first=Matthew
|last=May
|department=Science and Technology
|date=3 October 1991
|page=30
|issue=64141
|column=1
}}</ref> The closure in April 1991 of Homelink, the [[online banking|home banking]] service launched in 1983 by the [[Nottingham Building Society]],<ref name=HomelinkClosureArticle>
{{
cite journal
|journal=Journal of Retail Banking
|title=Why home banking bombed in Britain
|first=Philip A.
|last=Dover
|volume=15
|issue=4
|date=Winter 1993
|pages=30{{ndash}}38
|id={{Gale|A15141702}}
|issn=0195-2064
}}</ref>{{rp|1}} also contributed to shrinking the number of Prestel subscribers.<ref name=Rutter />{{rp|146}}
During 1991, Prestel was closed to residential users.<ref name=Rutter />{{rp|146}} Towards the end of 1993, it was reported that British Telecom was planning to close Prestel altogether: according to the company, of the around 35,000 subscribers at that point, only some 2,500 used the service regularly.<ref name=ClosureLaurance>
{{
cite news
|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]
|date=13 November 1993
|title=British Telecom poised to close its loss-making Prestel service
|first=Ben
|last=Laurance
|at=p. 38, col 5
|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/187571026
|id={{ProQuest|187571026}}
}}</ref>
===Closure===
British Telecom closed Prestel in early 1994, selling it to a [[consortium]]. It was rebranded as "New Prestel", focusing on the provision of financial data to businesses.<ref name=PrestelSaleInd /> In mid-1996, New Prestel transferred to the [[World Wide Web|Web]], becoming the [[Internet service provider]] (ISP) "Prestel On-line"<ref name=PrestelOn-line>
{{
cite news
|newspaper=[[The Independent]]
|title=Steps one, two and three{{snd}}hey Prestel!
|first=Alan
|last=Stewart
|date=28 July 1996
|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/steps-one-two-and-three-hey-prestel-1331077.html
|access-date=14 December 2024
}}</ref><ref name="PrestelOn-lineArchive">
{{
cite web
|url=http://www.prestel.co.uk/online.htm
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970208234324/http://www.prestel.co.uk/online.htm
|archive-date=8 February 1997
|title=Prestel HotZone : Follow the Markets with Prestel On-Line!
|website=Prestel On-line Services
|access-date=14 December 2024
}}</ref>
In 1999, the financial data component of Prestel On-line was bought by the company Financial Express to become "Financial Express Prestel".<ref name=FinExpressPrestel>
{{
cite web
|url=https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/financial-express-buys-prestel-online/120097
|title=Financial Express buys Prestel Online
|date=20 October 1999
|website=[[Campaign (magazine)|Campaign UK]]
|access-date=14 December 2024
|quote=Online content supplier Financial Express has bought real-time pricing provider Prestel Online from its management team. Following the purchase, FE will change its name to Financial Express Prestel and specialise in supplying data on equities, unit trusts, investment funds and life and pensions funds.
}}</ref> The service component merged with the ISP [[Demon Internet]],<ref name=DemonPrestel>
{{
cite news
|newspaper=M2 PressWire
|title=Prestel: Demon and Prestel alliance creates new Internet force
|date=13 January 1999
|publisher=Normans Media
|id={{Gale|A53563938}}
|quote=Demon Internet and Prestel On-line today announced the alliance of the two Scottish Telecom companies which will create one of the most competitive offerings in the UK Internet Service Provider (ISP) market.
}}</ref> which ran a "Prestel Internet Service". This closed in 2002.<ref name=Rutter />{{rp|146 ft 158}}
==Database==
Line 917 ⟶ 1,035:
===Response frames===
A "response frame" enabled a user to send a message to an IP using a
{{
cite journal
|journal=[[The BMJ#Editions|British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Edition)]]
|title=Use of a viewdata system to collect data from a multicentre clinical trial in anaesthesia
|first1=H. A.
|last1=Waldron
|first2=R. F.
|last2=Cookson
|volume=289
|issue=6451
|pages=1059{{ndash}}1061
|date=20 October 1984
|issn=0267-0623
|url=https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/289/6451/1059.full.pdf
|access-date=9 December 2024
|doi=10.1136/bmj.289.6451.1059
|doi-access=free
}}
</ref> The user's name and other information needed (such as their address) were automatically added to the frame from their Prestel account details.
Initially, response frames had to be collected by an IP from each IRC in turn; later, they were ingathered at the UDC, where the IP concerned could retrieve them. Eventually, with the introduction of Mailbox, response frames could be retrieved from any IRC. {{section link|#Network}}
Line 1,176 ⟶ 1,313:
====Mailbox computer====
{{see also|#Mailbox}}
Mailbox, the Prestel messaging service, was launched on Enterprise computer, and allowed messaging only between users accessing that machine. By 1984, Mailbox had been rolled out nationwide using a dedicated computer in London known as Pandora.<ref name=MboxUpgradeMicronetArticle />{{
===Hardware===
Line 1,325 ⟶ 1,462:
|oclc=8735559
}}</ref> and former [[Yugoslavia]].{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}
==See also==
Line 1,341 ⟶ 1,474:
*{{annotated link|Telidon}}
*{{annotated link|videotex}}
*{{annotated link|Viewtron}}
==Notes==
| |||